Legislative Update II

Given incoming-President Obama some early victories, Congress approved the release of the final $350 billion of bailout money and the House passed the SCHIP expansion which President Bush had vetoed. The Senate also passed a bill outlawing the sale and counterfeiting of inaugural tickets and several Obama cabinet picks went before Senate committees. Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton got a 16-1 vote out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and even Attorney General-designate Eric Holder (who exclaimed that "waterboarding is torture" and that President Obama will follow through on closing Gitmo) looks like he will not have the opposition once predicted due to his approval of President Clinton's pardon of Marc Rich.